Design Ruined My Life

There, I said it.  After studying design and art and aesthetics and stuff, I’ve realized that design has polarized me in a way that is unknown to most people.  You see, one doesn’t notice design unless it’s off or bad in some way unless they’re looking for it.  For instance, when I was at work a few weeks ago, I went to use the restroom and there were two soap dispensers available to use.  I chose not the closer one but the one that looked better and had a better design.  I then forgot about it for the time being.  Even further back, in a parking lot I saw a new Nissan 350Z.  I used to love that car, and I still do like the outside.  But I’m not a fan of the interior.  I don’t like the angles and the way the buttons are and just the general theme.  This was a few years ago however and I’m sure they’ve changed it all a bit.  I also didn’t like the Altima.  It seems recently, they’ve taken a page out of Toyota’s book and started designing components that are less industrial looking and more curvy.  Speaking of words that look like ‘scurvy’, yesterday the day before yesterday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19) and I celebrated.  By speaking like a pirate.  I would have posted yesterday the day before yesterday, but typing like a pirate it too difficult.  Back to the topic at hand, one last example of how design has ruined things for me is design in media such as video games.  My buddy got the game Prototype for Xbox 360 and I played it.  I hope this doesn’t wound like a review, but I liked the game overall a lot.  The one main thing I noticed was that the protagonist wears boots for some reason.  I think that’s strange considering he’s some hooded badguy protagonist jumping around Manhattan, but I kept noticing the boots and how the toes come to a point.  I didn’t like it, and it was driving me mad.  Damn you, design!

I think that will be the name of my other blog.

The Dichotomy of Design and Consumption

I’ve been thinking about something.  I posted previously about my personal disagreement with extreme consumerism, when the objects we accumulate in our lives get in the way of relationships and what’s really important.  However, even as I’m trying to avoid spending all of my money by purchasing a lot of things that will make my life more complicated, I’m working on designing items for people to buy that could make their lives more complicated.

Overall, that’s not my goal.  I don’t want to design things that people will buy and then be burdened by (that’s a lot of alliteration).  I simply want to make things that are clever.  In other words, I just want to be a good designer and make a good living instead of making things that people buy out of boredom or laziness or greed or any other foolishness.  Of course, I’m sure the creator of the Snuggie said something like that at some point as well.  The point is, I’ve got to overcome my fear that people might purchase my products for the wrong reasons.  I’ve just got to focus on making good things, and then they will sell for good reasons.

There’s always the possibility that I design products for the purpose that they consume less.  For instance, the person who designed those neat grocery tote bags had the idea in mind to get people consume less plastic and paper disposable bags.  Sustainability has been on the rise in design for awhile now, which makes designers think more about the products and materials that go into the design as well as the design itself.  There’s definitely a balance between design and potential consumption that is associated with products and markets, and I’m planning on finding that balance.